Posted by Roberta Grimes • December 21, 2019 • 49 Comments
Jesus, The Teachings of Jesus
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
Six or seven years ago I started to loathe Christmas. When I was a child it was a magical time, with all the cousins on their best behavior and my father and uncle in the same room together for an entire day without much bickering. Like you, I revel in memories that I took for granted at the time, including my grandmother baking pies and making dinner in a black-iron range that her sons would tend as she cooked. A wood-fired kitchen stove in the fifties! Other children’s grannies were cooking by then on electric stoves in pink or turquoise, but never since those days has there been a more perfect turkey or a better apple pie. And then, of course, I reared my own children and we made our own Christmas memories; and when I tell my grandchildren now about their parents’ childhood Christmases, all of it feels as ancient to me as does my grandmother’s wood-fired range. But so the generations turn!
My sudden aversion to all things Christmas astonished me at first, when for so many years the day had made me happy. A lot of glitter for a few weeks of time, the hectic pressure to buy and spend, the cards, the foods, and the decorating of an evergreen that would spend our Christmas season dying in the living room. One seemingly random year was the final year when I did it all and enjoyed it; but then as the following December approached, I realized I simply couldn’t do it again.
For awhile I thought my Christmas revulsion was the product of my mother’s recent death, or perhaps it was a reaction to the fact that our grandchildren were outgrowing the toy orgies that had so delighted us. It might even have sprung from the sense of futility I long had felt about the fact that you no sooner got that tree set up than it was time to strip its corpse. Even shopping had begun to seem pointless, since our growing grandchildren were happier now if we just gave them money. For years I felt alone in my dread of Christmas, but I have lately come to suspect that this feeling is becoming almost mainstream.
If you are starry-eyed about being deep in the wonders of the Christmas 
season, then please accept from me a loving hug and a cheery “Merry Christmas!” But if much of the heart and purpose seems to have left your Christmases, too, then let us reason together about why this has happened so we can think about what might come next.
Why are so many Americans of late beginning to dread the Christmas season? I can see two main reasons:
Without an uplifting spiritual core, an old-style Christmas is too much effort. It seems to have become over the past few decades little more than a food-and-merchandise binge that leads to a crashing emotional letdown. So for the past six years I have not done Christmas. No decorations. No carols. No tree, and only gifts that could fit in envelopes. My husband and I still cooked the feast, but we served it at my daughter’s house so we even avoided any Christmas mess! I had thought I was well over Christmas, but I have just begun to realize that these past few years may have been a cleansing. I may be growing now toward something new.
My astonishing sense of Christmas uplift began only a week ago, with “fall on your knees” singing in my mind. “O Holy Night” had been my favorite carol, but of course I hadn’t heard it in years! So when it became my sudden earworm, I had to look up the actual words:
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth;
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born.
O night, O holy night, O night divine.
“O Holy Night” was composed in French in 1841 and translated into English in 1855. Just read those lyrics! Each time I read them I am freshly stunned by the 
momentousness of what we should be celebrating. Two thousand years ago God chose to be born as a human being so He could bring us eternal truths to uplift and transform humankind. Jesus tells us in the Gospels what He came to do. And while the Christian religion by and large ignores what the Lord says in the Gospels, “O Holy Night” puts His Gospel words front and center as the reason for the season:
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth;
Jesus is indeed our Saviour! But what this Christmas carol makes clear is that He didn’t come to save us from God’s wrath. What He came to save us from was hopeless ignorance. Read on…
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
His came to free us from erroneous religious nonsense, and from the very notion of sin. His teachings help us to grow away from fear and toward love, and thereby we begin to know our true worth!
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
“Yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!” A new beginning for humankind that is based in awareness of our own divinity is born for us at Christmas in the Son of the living God.
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born.
For us to fall on our knees in wonder as God’s angels above us sing for joy is our only possible response to the heavenly import of that night. Humanity had been steeped for all its history in grievous notions of sin and shame and in the sad weariness of daily confronting our own ultimate worthlessness. And then God came to earth in the same way that all the rest of us come to earth, and He taught us that our minds are forever one with the infinite Mind of God.
All these musings over the past week have sent me back to read the Gospel story of the Lord’s birth, which is given to us in Matthew and Luke as the well-known tale of the shepherds to whom an angel revealed the birth of Jesus (LK 2:8-14), and the story of wise men who arrived in Jerusalem in search of the newborn “king of the Jews.” The star that announced the birth of that king “went ahead of them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was… After they went into the house and saw the child with his mother Mary, they fell down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure sacks and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (MT 2:9-11).
In every modern Bible translation, the wise men are said to give the infant Jesus the same three gifts, and that fact soon started me wondering whether the gifts themselves might have some meaning. It turns out that both frankincense and myrrh are the dried sap or resin of specific trees, and both can be used in making incense and perfume. Both also have strong medicinal properties. So just as gold symbolizes wealth, so frankincense and myrrh symbolize beauty and healing. The gifts of the Magi are in celebration
of the dawning awareness of God’s perfect love that was born to us in that holy child. Those gifts are the prosperity of spiritual unity and the healing sweetness of spiritual growth that will culminate in the eventual arrival of the kingdom of God on earth.
When we look again at the words of the Prophet Isaiah foretelling the birth of Jesus almost a millennium before the event, we find that the words that follow them are, “Of the growth of his government and peace there will be no end. He will rule over his kingdom, sitting on the throne of David, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forevermore” (Isaiah 9:7).
It’s an ancient perspective on what Jesus called the arrival of the kingdom of God on earth, and as we abandon the false dogmas of Christianity and we begin to closely follow the Gospel teachings, we start to fulfill that ancient promise. Christmas was never about gifts and glitter! Instead, the source of all human joy is the fact that God was born on earth to teach us to choose love over fear so we could claim at last our divine birthright. We are only infinite, perfect love! And three thousand years after the Prophet Isaiah foretold God’s arrival on earth, we begin at last to understand what that means. To quote Paul, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and 
reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways. Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor 13:11-12).
As we ever more closely follow Jesus, and we ever more perfectly embody God’s love, we will begin to celebrate that holy night without a need to add glitter and gifts to make it feel more special. I am suspecting now that Christmas isn’t over. Instead, it seems to be just beginning.
Beautiful, Roberta! Thank you. Happy Holiday season to you and your family.
Thank you, dear Renee! This is one of the posts that I was led to begin without really knowing where it was going, and I’m delighted with it now. Someone already has suggested to me that we ought to move our celebration of Christmas to the spring (when evidence tells us Jesus actually was born), get rid of the candles and glitter, and celebrate the Lord’s birth with that one beautiful song!
Dear Roberta, There is a lot of work to do to reclaim the experience of realizing the reason for the Master’s birth. Perhaps it is best observed quietly, or maybe not really at all, as it was for the first couple of centuries.We will then focus on His teachings and the true meaning of this song. Still, I’ll say, it: Merry Christmas to you!
Merry Christmas to you, dear Mike, and to all our friends here!
Roberta: I did the same thing. I stopped celebrating the commercial Christmas several years ago, as it no longer had the same impact on me. I was astonished at one point to find out that Jesus could not have been born on 12/25, and if he was, he wasn’t born in a stable. Stables acted as hostels do now, and were closed during the month of December in the area where he was said to be born, so when you see nativity displays with “snow” on them sold in stores etc, it is strictly for artistic purposes. Also, babies born in stables was not as uncommon as we were led to believe – just another story made up by the Catholic church
Hope you have wonderful holidays.
Dear Lola, it is generally thought that Jesus was born in the spring, and it is known that His birthday celebration was moved very early in the organized church’s history to coincide with pagan winter solstice celebrations as the church tried to ingratiate itself into more northern climes.
I am curious now about how all this is going to unfold! Might “the Holidays” remain in place as a general winter celebration, and April become a divine month in which we celebrate the birth and the teachings of Jesus, and the miracle of His resurrection? All together?
It would be nice to celebrate everything concerning Jesus all at one time, but I don’t think the stores etc. would agree with that because Christmas and Easter as two separate holidays result in their making a good profit, and they will fight like warriors to maintain that.
Messiah was born late Sept early Oct according to Scripture these people don’t know they’re celebrating Tammuz’s (the sun god) birthday all the pagan sun gods were born on Dec 25th quite sad.
Dear Christine, I had long thought that Jesus was in fact born in the spring, but it could as well have been the fall. After 2000 years, how can we know for certain? But the one thing we do know is that emphatically He was NOT born on December 25th! And realizing that is very freeing, don’t you think? Now all of those who love the Lord and are free of all the Christian lies can celebrate that holy birth in our own time, and in our own way….
Thanks, Roberta. I must admit that I do not understand how God the Father became mortal. It is a mystery, yet I am very thankful for the mortal life, ministry, perfect example, and atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. May we all remember the coming of God and Christ as a baby that we celebrate as Christmas. I have love for God and all mankind. Merry Christmas. Sincerely, David
Dear David, thank you for your lovely thoughts! And in fact, the evidence abundantly tells us that every human being in an earthly body is an aspect of God, and also immortal, so apparently what was different about Jesus was that He came from the highest aspect of the Godhead and His purpose was to transform and uplift us all. His work continues!
Merry Christmas Roberta and thank you.
I have always loved the lines
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. This very line gave me self-worth many times through my life.
For me the Christmas season is a season of hope, for new beginnings of understanding and kindness. My prayer for you is that you continue to be divinely
guided….Coffee and your writings is my Sunday morning. Thank you for helping me grow.
Dear Marilynn, whenever I am tempted to skip a week, I will think of you sitting there with your coffee cup ;-). I can’t bear to disappoint you!
I stopped playing the “Xmas game” after they replaced Christ with an X. That said it all to me. Now, they start pushing the holidays before Halloween and the very second that January 1 is over it is as if the last seven days didn’t happen.
In France a group of protesters literally attacked a living nativity set, sending children running for cover. Those protesters call the nativity racist, which makes no sense, but maybe they did us a favor. If they and their kind are successful there will no longer be any flashing lights, decorated dead trees, or any shiny things to attract their attention. The only thing remaining will be the single candle burning in a window to celebrate the gift of Christ
I hope you and your family have a blessed and joyous 2020. I also hope that you will continue writing. These posts have become a pleasant part of my Sunday. Thank you.
Dear Amanda, I agree that the secularists who have been working for the past half-century at least to peel away all the meaning from Christmas may in fact have done us a favor. The life and work of the genuine Jesus, when all the false Christian dogmas are stripped away, will be far stronger and far more powerful in the broader culture than the religion ever could have been. And celebrating the birth and the work and the miracle of the life of Jesus all together in a single precious month seems to make a much better way for us to spread His truth!
And thank you for enjoying these blog posts. Here’s to all of us holding the intention that 2020 will be the best and most joyous year in human history!
I am optimistic about 2020. I don’t know why. I guess that’s the nature of optimism. You don’t know why you think it will be OK, you just do. Happy new year too.
Dear Mike, I am optimistic too! I think for me it’s a combination of the great economy, the terrific used cars at low prices we are finding for our three newly-driving grandchildren, and the neat look of the numerals 2020 together.
I suppose there could be worse reasons….
dear roberta thanks for all your help in 2019 i wish you all the best for 2020 when we die do we carry on where we left off? will my wife know whats been going on in my life ? will she know how much i miss and love her will she know when its my turn to join her have a great christmas terry xx
Oh my dear Terence, we are indeed precisely the same people after we die as we were before! Except, of course, that we rejoin our greater minds almost immediately, so we are much smarter and we have much-enhanced memories. Your wife and your other dead loved ones can indeed check in on you whenever they like! And yes, they are very sensitive to our emotions toward them. It really is all good, dear Terry!
As for as I can tell or understand Christ is all about the family. He even addressed men and women bother and sister, and gave due respect to the elderly, everyone in fact. In my youth Christmas was a fun time enjoyed with family and friends. In my older age (60) most if not all the families I knew are broken and the children are being raised by single or separated parents. Plus their older children are forgoing a mate all together and raising children depending on the State for support.
Christmas just is not Christmas with out Christ in it, and no matter when it is supposed to be, He is the reason for the season. If Christ is not in it I am not in it!! The family unit has been severely disrupted and that is why I believe the Holidays have become so meaningless. That is the way it is for me personally anyway.
Hello And Good Morning Roberta Grimes. And A Merry Christmas Holiday To You And Yours. I’m Catholic. But Christmas Isn’t Christmas Anymore. It’s To Commercialised, And It’s All Greed And Selfishness Nowadays. All The Homes Decorated With Lights Outside, Etc. I Know Sometimes It’s For Charity, But It’s A Little OTT. Christmas Is To Expensive Now. And It’s Not Getting Any Better. I Love Your Inspiring Posts Each Sunday. I Read Them At Different Times. My Partner Passed Over A Year Ago Now. And I Miss Him Dearly. So It’s Nice To Think That We Are All Eternal Beings. But I Do Wonder If I Will See My Late Partner Again. And Be Reunited. All The Best For The New Year, 2020. Have A Happy, Safe, And Healthy New Year. Keep Up The Good Work. Godbless. Take Care. .
Dear Catherine, of course you will be with him again! We hear such glorious tales of lovers reunited – not just couples, but parents and children, and friends who have been together through many incarnations. The beautiful homeland that we return to at death is the most joyous homecoming we can possibly imagine!
Dearest Roberta,
Beautiful blog entry this week my dear. I love to read your blogs at night, coffee at hand, when they first comes through on Sunday evening. Somehow the deepening quiet suits the imbibing of your words all the better.
And the images of gold that holds light, frankincense that nourishes and myrrh that heals, shimmer dreamily before sleep in the mind’s eye.
You know, the most apt Christmas tree that I have seen was a Norfolk Island pine tree; a zesty, robust sapling growing in a large pot in friends’ lounge room one year. It was of course, decorated brightly and heaped about by presents of all shapes and sizes, but it was a living tree that could easily see out a few Christmases before being planted. The Norfolk pine is a native tree of certain islands close to Eastern Australia in the SW Pacific Ocean. It is endearingly symmetrical as a Christmas tree when young, and grows into a towering pine of Jurassic size and form when mature.
I loved this living Christmas tree and thought, it is fitting that this steadfast sapling should be alive, promising growth, beauty and comforting shade in future. Jesus should have a living tree. He is after all, new life at Christmas growing thereafter; Himself a living promise of Life Eternal.
Hence I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas. May you be ever blessed. As I wish all my fellow bloggers here a merry Christmas filled with joy.
So Roberta, to use my favorite Christmas greeting:
Joyeux Noel. 🎄🙏🏼❣️
Efrem: Your description of the Norfolk Island pine tree intrigued me, so being a “tree freak”, I looked it up and found many pictures on the internet showing them from small plants to maturity. They are truly beautiful. They are also known as Australian pine and are found on various islands off the coast of Australia. You already know that, of course, but I have to wonder how they happened to appear and flourish on these various islands as opposed to elsewhere. They look almost surreal. In any event, hope you have happy holidays.
Hey Lola, like your good self I love trees. One day I fancy myself living in a forest, or some such natural environment in the Afterlife maybe..
The Classic Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla) does actually come from one island of the same name. Norfolk Island is just under a thousand miles east of Australia, north of New Zealand, in the South Pacific Ocean. Although it’s close relatives can be found on other South Pacific islands, this unique tree evolved on its own. It does grow to 200 metres (over 60ft) and has a graceful, conical form. We’ve got many of them lining eastern Australian beaches and we Sydneysiders have grown up alongside these trees, basically.
They are not true pines, as you guys have in abundance, so maybe that is why they look ‘surreal’ to you. The beauty is that the saplings can grow well but more slowly indoors, and can easily be used as living Christmas trees.
Much love my dear. May you and your family have a superb Christmas. Here is a fun joke to end with :
QU: How do you know if there are Catholics around you while watching a Star Wars film in the cinema?
A: When you hear ‘May the Force be with you,’ and people around you murmur, ‘And also with you.’ 😉❣️
LOL.
I thought the same thing. How nice it would be to live in a forest surrounded by those beautiful trees. I’m glad they don’t cut them down to use as a Christmas tree and that they decorate them as a “living Christmas tree.” I don’t think there could be any prettier Christmas tree than one of these would be.
Dear Efrem, you are such a precious friend to all of us, and your wise words so much improve this whole experience! Each of our wonderful friends who grace these comments each week feels like family to me now, and I don’t think you really can appreciate how much each of you is loved. Merry Christmas, and wishing you all every joy in 2020!
Dear Roberta, Oh Holy Night has taken on a new meaning for me, thank you for that. I also can now refer to Jesus The Christ as our savior but not from our sins but as you state, from our hopeless ignorance.
I would like to offer the website http://www.Futurecrun.ch for cited good news stories from around the world that are very seldom reported. In the articles section you can find 99 cited news stories just from 2019.
A healthy, happy New Year to you, your readers and everyone on this planet,
Much Love, Sharon
Dear Sharon, so often when I’m writing one of these posts I am learning right along with you! I hadn’t seen what was in “O Holy Night” before I looked up the words, and I wouldn’t have looked up those words if “fall on your knees” hadn’t suddenly been in my mind, sung and spoken, over and over, for two days of time. That is how most – perhaps all – of these topics show up! I’m just the conduit. All of this continuously surprises and delights me, discovering yet again every week that I am being used. Now, it’s Christmas morning and I’ve got to get busy on the new post, but I have been fighting the topic. My oldest is in town anyway, and seeing her and being with family has gotten in the way, so I could delay putting fingers to keyboard. Now I have just awakened, and I realize that I was told when I met with my guides (as we all do, during the night) that the time is right to do this topic, so get to it!
The greatest gift that I ever receive is this weekly wonder of discovering what I am meant to be writing for you, and then watching it happen. My great wish for you, dear Sharon, and for everyone who reads these words, is that you will open your heart to your guides and will find the greatest gift of all, if it hasn’t already happened for you, this serene connection to what you are meant to do with your life, and then the certain guidance to see it through!
Thank you, Roberta.
I too have dismissed Christmas for years.
My mom passed just 3 weeks ago, December 2, 2019. Before she passed I was telling her about these balsam, coastal-lit wreaths. She thought it was interesting that I suddenly expressed an interest in decorating my home for the holidays which I have.
Perhaps, as with you, Christmas is not over, it’s just the beginning.
Thank you for your writings. They have and are helping me navigate the eathly loss of my best friend.
Much Love & Merry Christmas,
Susi
Oh dear Susi, I am sorry for you, but thrilled for your mother! My own mother, too, was my best friend for most of our time together on earth, but actually I must say that I feel closer to her now than I ever have felt. I hope that also happens for you! She did and said so much that I rely on now, and it didn’t surprise me to learn after her death that she is quite spiritually advanced. I couldn’t see it when she was in the body and just my mother, but I do see it now, throughout her life. Dear Susi, your mother is right there with you, and even closer to you now that she is free of her separate body. I’m sending you a great big hug and much love!
dear roberta i know im a pest but i must tell you this after a night of missing my dear wife i got up waiting for my son tocome after he had been in my house about 10 mins my eyes fell on grey feather about 4inch long we set off to go shopping i put my hand in my pocket and there in my hand was another one when we came back from shopping in the bathroom on the sink was another one my son has been told by mediums that he is spiritual having what you said about building a wall round my self i wonder if my wife is making contact through my god bless terry xx
Dear Terry, you are not a pest at all! And this finding of feathers in places where they shouldn’t be is one of the most common of all signs from people who are no longer in bodies. Even in your pocket, for heaven’s sake! And in the bathroom, on the sink??
Yes, it is also common when people are still deeply grieving for the loved ones they are grieving to use others to deliver signs to them. Mikey Morgan talks about this phenomenon in his book, and your adventure of the feathers surely looks like another instance of it!
Like the child who sad to his mom and dad. “you gave me everything I ever wanted, but nothing I ever needed. The question I have is where have the Good Samaritans gone? That is what I see lacking in the Holiday Seasons, and getting worse and worse too…
Dear Rocky, I think it is our sharply reduced sense of connection to others – probably primarily the result of the cultural dissolution of our families – that has most made you feel that there are no more Good Samaritans. They still exist, although there are likely fewer of them, but I do still hear stories of people who feel moved to do important things for strangers. And as more and more of us work to raise our consciousness vibrations toward more perfect love, there are likely to be a lot more of them!!
… I wrote the above, and then I came across a Christmas essay by someone far wiser than I am which responds to you more directly: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/the-town-that-wouldnt-be-passed-by/
It would indeed be fascinating, and moving, to know how the first Christians commemorated the birth of Jesus – better than this overcommercial mess we have now for sure. Some just call it Festus these days. Just the same, I want to wish a Merry Christmas to you and yours Roberta, and to everyone in our little circle here.
Dear Scott, the Lord’s earliest followers don’t seem to have made much fuss at all about the Lord’s birth. Back then, none of the miraculous things that surround it for us seem to have mattered, and even its modern name – Christmas – is “Christ’s Mass,” which no one would have said or imagined until after Jesus was more connected in people’s minds with the prophesied Messiah, and especially after there even was a formal Mass to connect Him with, which was of course centuries after his death! Like the notion of sacrificial redemption (or penal substitutionary atonement, if you prefer), the focus on Jesus as a religious figure doesn’t seem to have come up until long after his death, and these ideas seem to have come from the Romans primarily.
Happy Christmas Roberta and all!
Roberta, what are your thoughts on the virgin birth? Should we take it literally; is it a metaphor for Jesus and his message of ‘rebirth’; or is it a mistranslation from the original text do you think?
Dear Alex, I think – like so much of Christianity – that the virgin birth doesn’t matter. I think the whole idea came out of the increased focus on Jesus as a religious figure – a god – and not as a teacher, which was how He saw Himself – and all of that seems to have come from the Roman councils (beginning with Nicaea in 325), and the veneration of Mary was an early product of this need for the Romans to co-opt Jesus-as-God and thoroughly replace and obliterate Jesus-as-Teacher.
It was all about using religion to control people! Thomas tells me that this stripping away of Jesus’s role as Teacher was important to the religion’s use as a fear-based way to control the masses, since of course His Gospel teachings are individual and spiritually liberating but without them we are left with a man-as-god Whose power makes Him an object of fear. And once Jesus is a god, and the Son of God, then He has to have come to earth in a miraculous way. Once the Church Fathers made sin and its avoidance the centerpiece of their new religion (again, for control reasons), and based sin on the patriarchal Old Testament where patrilineal lines had to be preserved so virginity at marriage and no sex outside marriage was crucial to making fathers sure about who actually had fathered their children, then if Jesus was the Son of God, of course His had to have been a virgin birth! And from that came the notion that she remained a virgin, and so on.
As a practical matter, I think she either was or was not a virgin before she bore Jesus, but she certainly wasn’t a virgin afterward. Jesus had siblings that came to earth in the usual way! But, as I said above, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is what Jesus SAID.
I love this explanation of the virgin birth, Roberta, as it makes so much sense. If Jesus was to be thought of as fear based, he would need to be considered as someone other than just a “teacher.” Making him a religious figure who died for our sins puts a guilt trip on us, which of course, leads into fear and a sense of unworthiness. The only way to atone for our sinful ways was to become immersed in the doctrine of the church. I still really wonder how many liberating things Jesus said that were removed by the various translators etc. – probably dozens or even hundreds.
Wow, perfectly said, dear Lola! Christianity is quite literally all about guilt. I wondered too, at first, how much damage the Councils had done to the genuine teachings of Jesus, but after seeing how the Lord handled Liberating Jesus, I think that whatever of His teachings they left were apparently quite enough.
Dear Terence,
I cannot say if the appearance of physical feathers are indeed an indication of contact – but quite possibly. If you believe that that is how contact shows itself then that is indeed likely to be a way in which it manifests for you. I would like to write to you further regarding the direct contact that you can definitely enter into with her – which will be not only a source of comfort but also a source of joy – to you both.
Your pain is so tangible – and this is almost certainly the reason that your beloved wife cannot make contact with you in a way that is real and experiential for you. That she is with you 24/7, hearing all your thoughts as you think them and being sensitive to all your emotions as you feel them, is not a question – it is certain.
She will not be suffering the pain of your painful emotions as such, because she is in a place where she already knows that there is no reason for pain. However, when you are able to release your ‘resistance’ and open up to the grace that is constantly trying to flow in to us from source (of which she is already a part) you (and she) will be able have the joy of continuing your relationship … a new phase of your relationship … which is eternal – it has not ended and never can end. It may seem inconceivable to you at this moment, but you still have a gift that you need to give to her – the gift of living through you. She will be seeing through your eyes, feeling through your senses, even tasting through your tongue and can enjoy the deliciousness of physical life through you … you will find yourself, so to speak, living life for 2 and feeling her appreciation and love at every step.
There is however, a further big bonus. Your wife, now being part of source energy, sees everything from a much higher perspective. She still is everything that she was – nothing has been lost – but she is also already so much more. This means she is now able to guide you and help you to fulfill your purpose in life (and yes, you do still work to do in this life, lessons to learn, fulfillment to achieve … or you wouldn’t be still here!) in a way that she could never have done before.
It is a wonderful moment when we drop our pain sufficiently to relax and allow our loved ones back in. The very second that you relax into allowing, she will enter. Quickly then you will realize that it is a ‘meld’ – and that she is indeed there with you … inside you 24/7. There is then no such thing as a private thought – and actually there never was – which takes a touch of getting used to … but quickly comes to feel absolutely natural, as indeed it is.
I would briefly like to tell you about my Mother’s passing 6-weeks ago. Due to appalling circumstance that are not relevant to this letter, I was in another country with no possibility of being beside her. When I heard news, late in the evening, that she would probably transition within 24 hours I was of course distraught. They said that she was no longer conscious, breathing had slowed and her skin was already cooling. Around 2.00 am a local man who had heard of my distress, left the wedding party where he had been, to come to me so that I was not alone. He knew that I would not sleep for worry and insisted on taking me to a nearby all-night cafe-bar as he knew that I had not eaten for 2 days and that even though I had no appetite, making myself ill would not help. He also poured me a strong glass of vodka with cherry juice. As I took the first sips of the strong drink, I relaxed slightly and instantly felt an extraordinary wave of energy pass through me, a feeling a calm swept over me and a distinct feeling that her arms were around me. I told him – “she is here – I can feel her holding me”.
A few hours later I received the telephone call saying that physical death had just occurred. I however, KNOW that she had actually left the physical body some hours previously.
For a few days I could not feel her presence at all. I was too distraught, crying constantly and could not believe that such pain could ever exist – let alone ease or abate. On about the fifth day, for some unknown reason I decided to watch you tube ‘Abraham Hicks’ videos on death. There are 1,000s of Abraham videos on You Tube – about 20 or 30 of which address the subject of death.
Abraham Hicks (an American called ‘Esther Hicks’ who ‘channels’ a spirit or ‘non-physical collective’ that she calls Abraham) found fame some 20 years ago, particularly for channeling about “The Law of Attraction”. Esther wrote 3 or 4 books, the first of which was “Ask and it shall be Given”, which is also supposedly channeled, and also participated in 2 films “The Secret” and “Down the Rabbit Hole”. Whilst the based on indisputable Universal Mystical Laws, I have to say that (to me anyhow) a lot of her work seems over simplistic and new-age-y. Hence it was years since I had watched any of her work. Her ‘channels’ on death, however, proved to be the most helpful thing to me that I ever could have received.
Within a couple of hours, I had gone from feeling absolutely desolate, despairing and remorseful to feeling up-beat and even a little bit excited about seeing how our future ‘eternal’ relationship would unfold. You may think it is crazy, but in the evening I walked to a shop and bought chocolates that she particularly liked (I don’t eat chocolate) and something that she would like to drink. I then just started talking to her, in my head. I asked, “are you here with me?” My head spontaneously nodded “yes” in return! Not sadly, I started asking her if she can see through my eyes? “yes”. Can she get pleasure from my pleasure? “Yes” Could she indeed ‘enjoy’ the chocolates through me? … another enthusiastic “Yes!” My head started nodding in agreement and I felt a touch of the ‘buzz’ of resonance that I had felt in the café-bar, the night of her transition. I drank the drink, raising the glass as a toast to her and telling her all the things that I appreciated in her. My whole body resonating. (I can feel the resonance as I am writing this … especially in my nose and face … she is fully aware of this letter and is giving me affirmation that it does need to be written). When I ate the chocolates, thinking about her appreciating them through me, the resonance went off the scale!
The next day I actually felt happy, happy that she is now in a much better place than she was and enjoying our life! I now feel her presence on a constant basis. I talk with her continually inside my head (and with my Father who transitioned in 2002) and receive instant responses – usually through my head spontaneously nodding up and down or to and fro in agreement or disagreement – but also accompanied by feelings, thoughts and emotions that ‘flesh out’ the response … sometimes I also smell her hand cream and talcum powder! There is no chance of feeling lonely!
If she is pleased about something or wants to give me strong affirmation on some thought I may be having, she draws my attention by a buzz of resonance and I immediately pay attention and say “uhu, that’s you telling me that that’s the right way to go, yes?” … and immediately get a “yes” back again.
Anyhow, of course I still have moments when I feel sad and am tempted to think of “what could have been”. At these moments, we CANNOT be reached by those in non-physical. We cut off our connection – as Abraham puts it “we kink our hose, so that the flow is cut-off”. When I make myself relax and go into ‘allowing’ by raising my energy, maybe appreciating something of beauty or engaging in other loving and positive thoughts, the communication comes back.
Terence, do watch all the Abraham videos on death / afterlife and then just start talking to your wife … and feel her answer. Esther / Abraham puts it all so simply and so clearly. And it is all so true. It really helped me and I am sure it will help you too.
Do let us know how you get on!
Alexa
Dear Alexa and everyone, my Thomas keeps me on a tight leash as to what I can read and the videos I am allowed to see, and the Abraham materials are not on his “approved” list. This generally is because some part of what they say may not be precisely right, perhaps because the channeling entity might not be high enough in vibration or the connection between entity and channel is imperfect, but he feels less strongly about limiting what you see and read. And he isn’t insisting that I warn you away, so thank you for the recommendation to others here, Alexa!
Dear Roberta – how fascinating! Your Thomas is certainly something else! When I found the Abraham work a few years ago I was confused because on one hand some things resonated so well – and on the other hand it was clear that some of the things that she was saying just could not be right. I put it down to being ‘over-simplistic’, maybe for the sake of the level of her audience – or that the channel ‘Esther’ had started to put too much of her own interpretation on certain issues – especially regarding ‘Law of Attraction’. You explain so simply and clearly “the channeling entity might not be high enough in vibration or the connection between entity and channel is imperfect”. That explains the inconsistency perfectly.
At the same time, the videos specifically relating to death (or rather deathlessness) / & afterlife (or rather continuation of life) were so helpful to me and put me straight back into the mode of ‘allowing’ rather than grieving … so that she could reach me. I therefore hope that Terry gives it a try. That having been said, from his next email, it seems that he is already doing pretty well himself!
Love,
Alexa
Dear Alexa, apparently that is exactly the problem with a lot of channeled material! Some of it from a particular channel is so right-on that you want to believe all of it, but almost no channeling team gets everything right. Thomas says this is usually because the entity being channeled doesn’t know what is going on above his or her vibrational level, and they pass along their best guesses together with what they actually know. Because nearly all of them do that – it’s human nature, I guess – I am not allowed to read almost any of the various channeled materials. The problem is usually not the living channel, but rather it is the entity being channeled; or sometimes it is the reliability of the connection between them. And this is why Thomas so vastly prizes what comes from Mikey Morgan! He tells me Carol Morgan is careful and precise, and Mikey is humble, he doesn’t guess, and he is high enough in vibration to see the entire picture (he is considerably higher than Thomas is himself).
It is only lately that I am coming to understand why Thomas so severely limits what I can read, see, and hear. And I accept his judgment, even though it isolates me more and more. As afterlife information becomes more widely discussed and further infiltrates our culture, I have not been allowed even to watch TV over the past twenty years, or to see almost any movies. People recommend their own favorite sources of afterlife-related information to me all the time, and I think my question and Thomas says at once, “No,” and that’s that. I am learning that I have been honed as a tool with a very specific purpose: I am a teacher of the basic truths and how those truths fit together, so I’ve got to know only what is true and be able to convey it on a basic level. That’s me! I agreed to come here and spend my life building this gigantic body of basic information, and then convey it at the grammar-school level. I’m supposed to help to build a base of basic knowledge worldwide. And when I used to try to understand more than my own role, he would always tell me that I’ll see it one day but while I’m still here, I’ve got to focus on just my own role. So that is what I do!
Dear Roberta – thank you for such a detailed and very revealing reply .. that the entity itself doesn’t know above his own vibrational level … and your own work …”build a body of basic information and convey it at the grammar-school level”. Fascinating.
Love
Alexa
dear alexa thanks for your message i will do as you say and let you know how i get on so sorry to hear about your mother its so hard
i know you dident think much of the feathers so hears another shortstorythe mediums i visited said i would get a green feather then she told me i would get a pink one then i got a white one so i bought a oicture frame an put a picture of my dear wife in the frame and placed all the feathers round her w hen i got up the next morning her photo was out of the frame and put beside the frame i just coudent under stand it so i placed the photo back in theframe and the samething happend again so on racking my brain i finely found out why the framei bought had green on the glass and she hated green i bought a clear glass frame problem solved thank you for finding time to contact me i really appreciate it terry
Wow, that’s another great sign, Terry! Good for you, and you should really be smiling now!!
Dear Terry – that is amazing! I hope you try the Abraham as it was so helpful to me … but in any case it sounds as though you are already well on the right road.
All the best and looking forward to hearing your progress!
Alexa